Larry Niven

One of the famed American science fiction writers of our time is Larry Niven whose real names are Laurence Van Cott Niven. He was born in Los Angeles California, United States, on April 30th 1938 and studied at Washburn University, and California institute of technology. Larry dropped out from the California institute of Technology only after one year and a half once he discovered a book store full of used science fiction magazines.

The best place to start is the Known Space series, the earliest of Larry Niven's multi-book series: it opens with World of Ptavvs (1966) and runs to 9 books across 1966–1995, ending with Flatlander (1995). Larry Niven's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Larry Niven has 224 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1964 and 2026. 148 of them belong to 19 named series — the largest being the Man-Kzin Wars series with 21 books — and 76 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Larry Niven's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Known Space (1966–1995, 9 books), Ringworld (1970–2012, 5 books) and Stellar (1974–1981, 8 books), plus 13 more.

This guide splits Larry Niven's 224 books into 19 named series and 76 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Man-Kzin Wars (21 books, 1988–2019); Known Space (9 books, 1966–1995); Stellar (8 books, 1974–1981); Magic Goes Away (5 books, 1978–2016); Ringworld Prequel / Fleet of the Worlds (5 books, 2007–2012), plus 14 further series.